"A garden that pleases me is a garden…designed with deliberation" – David Hicks

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Month: May 2012

While cleaning the library, I came across the book that was instrumental in changing my life.

This book was on the sale rack at Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Boston 30 years ago.

What an inspiration. I wanted to fill every room with wonderful bouquets…. how difficult could that be? After all, the arrangements in this book were done in a small bathroom in NYC… (with access to the wholesale flower market.)

Without a nearby flower market but with a perennial catalogue firmly in hand I bravely placed an order. My future son-in law (although we didn’t know it then) cleared a border alongside the house for the plants.

While I awaited the delivery I read a Gertrude Jekyll book; exactly which one I do not remember, as one of her books inevitably led to the next. The one thing I did know , was that the plants had to be arranged beautifully out-of-doors as well as supply material for bouquets.

I soon discovered that plants take a few years to develop, and flower arranging is way harder than it looks. Still I am glad for the experience, it makes me so appreciate the talent of my friends who can ‘throw’ an incredible arrangement together in a heartbeat!

30 years later my bouquets are simple and mostly easy one of a kind blossoms from shrubs not perennials, they require way too much maintenance.

Although we start some basil plants along with the tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. I like to have an entire bed of this delicious herb so I can share with friends and make jars of Pesto to freeze.

This is how I do it. First, I rake the enriched bed to as fine a tilth as I can. Then, I lay the handle of my rake onto the soil where I would like the first row and press down gently to leave a furrow.

In this case one keeps it SHALLOW, as basil does not like to have to reach too much for light.

Next, I make sure the subsequent rows are wide enough for my weeding tool to fit comfortably between them.

When the rows are done I gently scatter the seed as evenly as I can in the furrows.

With my rake I tamp down gently to barely cover the seeds.

Water gently, this seed bed will be kept moist till germination, then watered as required.

PLEASE NOTE:

All seeds have different requirements as to the depth they should be planted, check your seed packet. Some seeds like basil, require a bit of light to germinate, others need a depth of 1/2 inch, or as the case with some beans a full inch.

I attended the Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Connoisseurs Garden Tour this past week end and have lots of photos to share, which I will try to do within the next day or two, thought the seed starting was a more timely topic for today. Hope you agree.

More Clematis blooming…..

Clematis ‘Odoriba’, with its delightful little bells, ‘Carnaby’ in the corner, and below, Clematis ‘Confetti’ blooming for the first time.

Now I must rush to harvest the seeds of the mustard we grew this winter; indispensable in some Indian dishes, the recipes for which have been waiting while the seeds ripen.

I also let the lettuce go to seed.

It was a delicious mix of salad greens ( Winter Mesclun Mix) which survived the little frost we did have. The flavor improves I find, when sowing seeds that have been raised in the same soil. (Ask anyone who has tasted my Basil!)

Finally the tomato plants are ready to be planted out into the Potager.

We ‘hardened them off‘ which means exposing them to natural light gradually. (Till now they have been raised under lights.) The first day they were kept in a shady area, then we exposed them to morning sun for two days, while protecting them from the hottest part of the day. Finally they are left in full sun and watched carefully. Not a leaf wilted, so we knew these babies were ready to go.

Habitually,we would pot the plants up; that is, put the seed starting cells, as seen in photos, into a larger pot with rich compost. There was just no time this year.

We had prepared the soil beforehand with copious quantities of compost and rabbit manure.

My husband digs a hole in this rich mix. He removes the lower leaves of the plant with a pinch, and fills the soil around the stem up to the top leaves.

The plant will grow roots all along the stem and make it stronger (DO NOT DO THIS WITH OTHER PLANTS)

He inserts a toothpick on both side of the stem. This prevents the dreaded cutworm from wrapping itself around the stem and cutting the plant down at soil level.

When the soil is firmed around the plant, I like to create a small well or indentation around the root-ball to direct the water.

Finally the plants are MUDDIED-IN, the best description I know for deep and long watering, Then we place the cages around the plants….

We will mulch tomorrow; that is place a 2″ layer of shredded leaves on the exposed soil. These will retain the moisture in the soil and prevent annual weeds from germinating, I hope. We used to do it all in one day…. but we used to be younger.